Of course.

After the initial shock, Brad had hovered in the background, curious, inquisitive. He had wanted to know about the history that his client and father had shared. Alistair, for his part, had gotten the economic lay of the land at once. Financially, the boy was needed at home. He could not be spared for the Paris mission, so the man in brown would concentrate only on the fishing while he was here and forgo the purpose he’d had in mind, but when Joanna asked if he were still in the army, he’d answered truthfully and said yes, that he was a major now assigned to a civilian agency.

Her son’s eyes had filled with doubt and suspicion. “Running a courier service?”

“For want of a better description,” Alistair had replied and said no more. He had planned to get back to Meeker when he returned from France. Who knew? Joanna might accept his arm this time, but then she had confided to him as he’d said good-bye, “I’m getting married again, Alistair. Brad doesn’t know yet.”

“Who to?” he had asked, his hopes once again falling like a rock.

“To Brad’s boss, the owner of the lumberyard where he works. It’s been quick, but I care for him. He’s a good man and wants to take care of us.”

So, having heard the boy express his dissatisfaction with his military deferment while they had waited for the fish to bite, Alistair had not been surprised at Brad’s telephone call shortly after his return to Washington to ask if there was a spot for him at the OSS.

“Does your mother approve?” he had asked.

“She knows I want to join up to do my part. What else she doesn’t know can’t hurt her,” Brad had said.

Oh, yes, it could, young man, Alistair had thought, but he’d given the lad the go-ahead to come to Washington, D.C.

He’d tried to discourage the boy as much as the necessity for secrecy allowed. He’d pulled no punches about the business of the OSS. The agency could do without the son of Joanna Bukowski Hudson. She had suffered enough. But Alistair had been unable to dissuade him. Brad Hudson would not be put off because, as he’d correctly guessed, Alistair wished to protect the son of a woman he still desired. The boy had a sharp ear and keen eye for the indiscernible.